Haunted by Chill Haze

[Alex Lawes]

By all accounts its good practice to go as low as -3. Freezing point is -4 to -5. I've brought it up to 0 anyhow. Thanks.

[Hop Bomb]

I found (strangely) the process of moving it into secondary gave my beer a haze.

I now let the beer sit in primary for 2 weeks and then put it in the fridge at 4C for 2-3 days - I then transfer it using a tube out of the fridge into a keg or bottling bucket.

I wouldn't crash cool below 1C - I read that somewhere.

Would you dry hop in the primary for an IPA once fermentation has calmed down? Or would you transfer to secondary for dry hopping?

[Dr Jacoby]

Would you dry hop in the primary for an IPA once fermentation has calmed down? Or would you transfer to secondary for dry hopping?

The less yeast there is in a beer the more effective dry hopping will be. Yeast tend to strip away some of the flavour and aroma of hops, which is why some breweries, after fermentation is complete, drop the temp from about 21C to 17C for a few days to encourage some of the yeast to drop out. The beer is then usually transferred to a secondary container with the dry hops.

There's no major problem dry hopping in primary, but if you're looking to squeeze out as much flavour and aroma from the dry hops as possible, it is probably better to clear as much yeast as you can and transfer the beer to a secondary vessel.

[DEMPSEY]

See, I've always wondered about the necessity to cool as quickly as possible. I know it sounds like it should make sense  but how does that leave us if the recipe requires an aroma steep at 80 degrees for 1/2 hour. Are these beers always destined to be hazy because they weren't crash cooled?

-Barry

All the research that I have done on this question is that there is no getting away from the root causes of haze. It is protein and tannins coming from the malt bill used. A protein rest around 50C  can help to reduce the amount of proteins before you raise the temp to mashing temp. A good rolling boil will do a lot followed by a fast chill to fermentation temp. Your 80 degrees for 1/2 hour would suggest a temp still high enough to then follow with a crash cool.
Even having done all this chilling a finished beer will still bring out a haze and either you use fining's and or filter or you wait for months to let nature do it,that's all you can do.

[Hop Bomb]

Would you dry hop in the primary for an IPA once fermentation has calmed down? Or would you transfer to secondary for dry hopping?

The less yeast there is in a beer the more effective dry hopping will be. Yeast tend to strip away some of the flavour and aroma of hops, which is why some breweries, after fermentation is complete, drop the temp from about 21C to 17C for a few days to encourage some of the yeast to drop out. The beer is then usually transferred to a secondary container with the dry hops.

There's no major problem dry hopping in primary, but if you're looking to squeeze out as much flavour and aroma from the dry hops as possible, it is probably better to clear as much yeast as you can and transfer the beer to a secondary vessel.

I want every sniff of aroma so I dry hop in secondary all the time. I was just wondering what partridge9 does as he doesnt do secondary - just goes from 2 weeks in primary to crash cooling.

[Ciderhead]

Clarity Ferm

[Alex Lawes]

Have an IPA cooling here.

I think another part of this is that cold break material could still be getting through to the primary.

I'm going to let it stand for two hours and siphon it off into the primary to leave as much of that behind as possible.

What WOULD be great though would be a DIY whirlpool.

Anyone had a go at this yet?

Could also free me up to move completely to pellets, which I'd happily do for utilization and freshness.

[Alex Lawes]

Think we've just made one.

I'll keep you posted.